| Roy Lincoln is a chemist who is
assisting his father develop a super explosive called QRX-27. Wanting to
steal the explosive, foreign agents break into the Lincolns' lab and kill
Roy's father. Not wanting the bad guys to steal the QRX-27, Roy swallows it!
Roy begins to fight the foreign agents, and he soon notices that his hands
are starting to glow. It turns out that the QRX-27 concentrates its
explosive powers in Roy's hands, and by touching anything, Roy can cause it
to explode. Roy easily fights off his father's killers, and he designs
gloves made out of fibro-wax that will contain his power. Originally, the
gloves were made of asbestos, but that was changed to fibro-wax later on
when the health risks of asbestos became known. Roy adds a full body white
suit and helmet to his costume and dubs himself the Human Bomb.
By removing his gloves and putting his hand on an object, Roy
can make it explode. In addition, Roy is immune to his own explosions and
impacts caused by small size projectiles such as bullets. Debuting in Police
Comics #1, the Human Bomb picks up four sidekicks. First is Hustace
Throckmorton, who has explosive powers in his feet, and second is a trio of
young boys who call themselves the Bombadiers. By the time his adventures
come to an end in Police Comics #58, Roy has inexplicably turned in his
fibro-wax costume and replaced it with a standard green business suit, green
fedora, and leather gloves. The reason for this change, and an explanation
for why his powers didn't cause the leather gloves to blow up, has never
been given.
The Human Bomb makes his first DC appearance in Justice
League of America #107, the story which introduces the traditional Freedom
Fighters team. Roy's entire body, not just his hands, becomes explosive in
Freedom Fighters #1 due to his moving from Earth X to Earth 1. Doll Man
later developed a dampening system which allowed Roy to turn his powers on
and off. In the present day DCU, Roy Lincoln is retired and living on a
houseboat in Florida with fellow golden-ager Iron Munro. |